Memory Walk | Mass Participation Campaign
Background
We have worked with Alzheimer’s Society on Memory Walk since 2018, creating TV and radio advertising to encourage people to take part in one of the charity’s flagship mass participation fundraising events.
Memory Walk is a family-friendly sponsored walk raising money to support people affected by dementia. Participants can join one of the organised walks taking place across the UK, or create their own Memory Walk and take part wherever they are.
The Challenge
Following the disruption Covid-19 caused to mass participation events, Alzheimer’s Society needed to adapt its campaign communications to reflect a very different fundraising landscape.
The TV campaign needed to make the new participation options completely clear: supporters could either find an organised Memory Walk near them or take on their own walk. The radio campaign also needed an updated call to action to reflect the changes.
The challenge was to communicate these changes without losing the emotional appeal and familiarity of an established national fundraising event.
The Creative Strategy
The creative built on the existing Memory Walk campaign, retaining the emotional connection that had made it successful while making the participation message much clearer.
We adapted the TV voiceover and call to action to reflect the new flexibility around taking part, ensuring audiences understood that Memory Walk could happen wherever they were. The radio advertising was updated in parallel, creating a consistent message across both channels.
The approach kept the focus firmly on participation and the reason behind it: bringing people together to support those affected by dementia, while giving supporters a simple and accessible way to get involved.
Impact
The refreshed Memory Walk advertising campaign helped Alzheimer’s Society adapt one of its key mass participation fundraising products to changing audience behaviour and a post-pandemic events landscape.
By combining established campaign creative with clear, flexible participation messaging, the campaign continued to encourage supporters to take part in a national charity fundraising event, whether through an organised walk or by creating their own.
The WorkWe needed to update the existing Memory Walk TV and radio campaign quickly while working within the restrictions of Covid-19. Our first step was to re-record the voiceover for both ads, bringing back the original voiceover artist to maintain continuity with the established campaign.
With studio recording no longer possible in the usual way, we directed the voiceover session remotely via Zoom. The session ran smoothly, allowing us to move quickly from script approval through to production.
Within just a few weeks, we had developed and agreed the new scripts, secured Clearcast approval, recorded the updated voiceover for TV and radio, and edited the TV advertisement ready for broadcast delivery.
The Results
The updated Alzheimer's Society Memory Walk campaign launched at the end of June 2022, with both TV and radio advertising going live across the UK.
The campaign gave Alzheimer’s Society a refreshed and relevant way to promote its mass participation fundraising event, clearly communicating the new ways people could take part while retaining the familiarity and emotional connection of the established Memory Walk campaign.
Services Delivered
Mass Participation Fundraising
Fundraising Campaign Strategy
TV Advertising
Radio Advertising
Campaign Creative
Creative Adaptation
Campaign Messaging
Call-to-Action Strategy
Integrated Campaign Development
Supporter Acquisition